Notes and Editorial Reviews

Wind instruments occupy a central place in Francis Poulenc’s chamber music oeuvre. Starting from the first half of the twentieth century, composers and orchestras gave prominence to the woodwinds, lending their works the distinctive “French sound“ and style of which Poulenc was one of the greatest ambassadors. With his three sonatas for flute, clarinet, and bassoon, Poulenc set standards that remain to this day; his sextet is a milestone in music history. Francis Poulenc Chamber Music is the second concept album of the Ensemble arabesques. Their first, Gustav Holst Chamber Music, was released in 2017. The English composer’s fame rests on his enthusiastically acclaimed work The Planets, which eclipsed his previous compositions. The fact thatRead more the latter merit much greater attention is attested to by his chamber music works, characterized by their dreamlike gracefulness and still indebted to late Romanticism, to which the ensemble has devoted itself with great success. The third album is already in preparation and will be entitled Jacques Ibert Chamber Music. Read less

Customer Reviews

Average Customer Review: ( 1 Customer Review )

Boisterous cheer & haunted longingMay 17, 2019By Dean Frey See All My Reviews"&quot;What's nice with Poulenc,&quot; Erik Satie once said, &quot;is that he makes up his own folklore.&quot; Everything about the composer was original: he was largely self-taught, but he had enough confidence in his own talent that his music went its own way. Not worrying too much about musical fashions, he often ended up leading the way himself. He was exposed from his teenage years to the musical revolution of Stravinsky's early ballets, and to the intellectual excitement of the surrealists, but Poulenc's music retained its own earthy, forceful personality, and never lost its way in glibness or sentimentality. In Boris Lipnitzki's famous picture from the 1930s Jean Cocteau gathers Milhaud, Cocteau, Honegger, Tailleferre, Poulenc &amp; Durey &amp; his drawing of the missing Auric rounds out Les Six. Poulenc's music fits nicely in this avant garde group, but he's as much a leader as a any of his composing colleagues. This splendid collection of chamber music with piano is organized chronologically, but there's no real story arc of development or decline here; just Poulenc's prodigious, regular eruption of brightness and melancholy, of boisterous cheer and haunted longing. Pianist Paul Rivinius provides a solid lead at the keyboard, keeping his talented wind partners on task, but providing enough swing to keep thing alive and pulsing. This is a marvellous programme of Gallic charm and ingenuity that rewards close listening."Report Abuse